I was asked about solar generators and thought I might have info that others could use, thus this post. Feel free to disagree with any of my thoughts; this is what works for my household. I've had and used solar generators for about 3 years now. I've learned quite a bit from a friend who's trained in electronics/electricity (together, with his measuring instruments, we've experimented pushing the equipment to the limits), FaceBook groups, UTube. I am not an electrician. I did set up my own small off-grid system (my son ((electrician)) and friend did check out my system and made a couple of suggestions regarding fuses and my son installed a dedicated outlet and connecting lines before I went live). The name "solar generator" causes problems for some: They don't generate solar folks say. True, but neither does something that has the name such as "gasoline generator" mean it generates gasoline...the name simply means they use solar or gasoline or diesel or propane or wind to generate electricity.
1) Have and execute a plan.
2) Do not have unrealistic expectations...goes hand in hand with #1 above.
3) Don't pay MSRP.
4) Run tests before you actually NEED the electricity output.
5) Know how to store your solar generator.
6) Take advantage of IRS tax credits.
1) The Plan. Start with exactly what do you need to run with the grid down and what you need to run at the same time so you can get an appropriate size solar generator. For most it's the fridge/freezer, a light, a fan, maybe the TV or WiFi/router. Next buy a Kill-A-Watt type of meter ($1x.xx to $3x.xx) to measure exactly what the starting and running watts it uses and how much it uses over a period of time such as 24-48 hours so you can divided and determine the average watts it uses per hour over the longer time. I checked my fridge, two freezers, TV, coffee maker, both microwaves, George Forman grill, computer, and a couple of fans. You will often find it's different from what the item label says. A "1000 watt" microwave uses a lot more than 1000 watts to make 1000 watts of cooking power. As an aside, my new 65" TV was something like 240 watts out of the box with factory settings of bright and vivid, like a display TV in a store would be. I found the brightness and image settings could be lowered to more normal and it now uses something like 110 watts with no discernible difference to my wife and I. Armed with actual figures you can better decide on the continuous output, surge output and capacity of a solar generator needed for your situation.
Now for some math and examples: My oldest generator can put out 600 watts 120V continuous AC (until the battery is depleted ((I have it set to stop output when it gets down to 5% to be easier on its battery))) with a 1200 watt surge capacity. My garage freezer has a surge of 985 watts and running it uses 105 watts. Fridge has a surge of 800 watts and running of 160 watts. Power is out. My fridge when the power is out and the door is not opened will go 2 hours before the temp goes into the 40 degree range. Thus I have 2 hours for the power to come back or I do something. Freezer seems to go up to 24 hours without power (depends upon the outside temp). If both were plugged into the generator at the same time, the surge would be 1785 watts, higher than the generator can do so it would overload and shut off output. Solution: Plug in fridge, generator handles the surge and then settles down to the 160 running watts, both well within its capability. Wait a few minutes and plug in freezer. Generator handles freezer surge and settles down within a second or two to outputting 105 watts plus 160 watts or 265 watts total, well within its capability. Now it's unlikely that later both appliances would surge at the same time and overload the generator. It's never happened, and as a matter of fact, I've also plugged in a 2nd freezer (surge 502 watts, running 103 watts) after the first freezer finished its start up surge.
Add 105 running watts plus 160 running watts plus 103 running watts and get 368 watts. Your generator battery has a 1024 watt capacity. Figure 80% of that is useable capacity (the solar generator has some overhead converting DC into AC output and running a display and communicating with your phone if applicable). 1024 x 80% = 819 available watts. Divide 819 watts by 368 and you get 2.2 hours running time. Ha ha you say, Daezee, my fridge and freezer do not run continuously and besides that I only have a fridge, and right you are. Remember you plugged your fridge into your watt meter for 24-48 hours to got the average watts used per hour. OK, in non air-conditioning weather, my fridge averaged 55 watts per hour over a 48 hour period. In hot weather it averages 65 watts per hour. Assume the same 1024 watt battery capacity with 80% available. 819 divided by 65 = 12.6 hours worth of fridge being kept cold. Now lets add a solar panel putting out 200 watts per hour x 5 hours of good solar time in a day (actually it'll put out before and after the peak 5 hours, but not as much). 200 x 5 = 1000. 1000 + 819 = 1819. 1819/65 = 28 hours. Of course a rainy day can mess that up, but I have a gasoline powered generator as a backup. Not enough sun, charge the solar generator from the gasoline generator for about an hour or so and turn off the gasoline generator and run the solar generator for several more hours. Your gasoline lasts a lot longer and much less noise overall.
My old 600 watt output generator worked fine for my needs. Power goes out, plug in TV and WiFi router, plug in fridge, plug in freezers. Generator sits right next to the UPS. Quick and easy. TV, router, satellite dish are plugged into a UPS giving me 10-15 minutes to plug the UPS into the generator before the satellite has to go through its 20 minute restart procedure, followed by 2 hours to plug in the fridge. Most outages here were under 2 hours, but 3 were longer (10, 11.5 and 36 hours). Gave me plenty of time with no rush to plug my gasoline generator into the cutoff switch and power all the 120 volt AC outlets except my shed (its own circuit). Of course I still can't exceed the 1600 watt output of my little Honda gasoline generator and I can't run our big microwave my wife likes to use (1735 running watts).
My first solar generator worked out so fine, I want more capability with longer run time before my gasoline generator was needed and the new LiFePh battery with a 3500 charge cycle life (charge cycle = full charge to 100% and discharge to unit shuts off) (my old was 800 charge cycle before it's down to 80% original capacity). Ecoflow introduces a new model and I get in on the discount offered during the introduction. It was something like $400 off MSRP, free shipping, no tax, and 2 free 160 watt folding solar panels. Now I have an output of 2400 watts, surge of 4800 watts, capacity of 2048 watts. Ability to take in 5 times as much solar as my older unit. Weighs twice as much. And, out of all places, QVC offers for a few days an extra battery that plugs in giving now a total of 4096 watts at an unbelievable low price (saw it posted on an Ecoflow FaceBook group and jumped on the deal; 2 days later QVC had upped the price by $600). Now we can use the big microwave, the smaller microwave and my wife's coffee maker during outages (but not all at the same time). The old is still used for quick easy to move use, for taking it to the neighbor's shooting range for fans, and I can plug my bigger unit into it for recharging (but only up to 600 watts of charging rate...use the phone app to turn down the bigger unit charging speed so as to not overload the little unit).
More planning: If you intend to use solar panels with your generator you HAVE to make sure the volts (VOC on the panel label or total VOC of all the panels wired in series) of the panels do not exceed the input volts the generator can handle. You can go over the watts and amps, as the generator will not pull more than its capable of handling, but if you go over the volts, it will be fried as volts are pushed in. Extreme example: Imagine somehow plugging a 120 volt item into a 240 volt outlet...instant frying of the item. Now image a lamp with a 100 watt bulb is plugged into an 120 volt 1500 watt household circuit...the light bulb does not burn up as it only pulls the 100 watts it needs. Over volts bad; over watts or amps OK as only as much as needed is pulled. Every solar generator will come with info on the max volts input it can handle. My off-grid system is "overpaneled" meaning it can produce more watts than the system can take in, so on bright days it won't take in all the panels can produce, but on less bright times the excess panels provide more output than a lesser number of panels would (bought the panels used cheaply so I could play with different panel configurations).
1) Have and execute a plan.
2) Do not have unrealistic expectations...goes hand in hand with #1 above.
3) Don't pay MSRP.
4) Run tests before you actually NEED the electricity output.
5) Know how to store your solar generator.
6) Take advantage of IRS tax credits.
1) The Plan. Start with exactly what do you need to run with the grid down and what you need to run at the same time so you can get an appropriate size solar generator. For most it's the fridge/freezer, a light, a fan, maybe the TV or WiFi/router. Next buy a Kill-A-Watt type of meter ($1x.xx to $3x.xx) to measure exactly what the starting and running watts it uses and how much it uses over a period of time such as 24-48 hours so you can divided and determine the average watts it uses per hour over the longer time. I checked my fridge, two freezers, TV, coffee maker, both microwaves, George Forman grill, computer, and a couple of fans. You will often find it's different from what the item label says. A "1000 watt" microwave uses a lot more than 1000 watts to make 1000 watts of cooking power. As an aside, my new 65" TV was something like 240 watts out of the box with factory settings of bright and vivid, like a display TV in a store would be. I found the brightness and image settings could be lowered to more normal and it now uses something like 110 watts with no discernible difference to my wife and I. Armed with actual figures you can better decide on the continuous output, surge output and capacity of a solar generator needed for your situation.
Now for some math and examples: My oldest generator can put out 600 watts 120V continuous AC (until the battery is depleted ((I have it set to stop output when it gets down to 5% to be easier on its battery))) with a 1200 watt surge capacity. My garage freezer has a surge of 985 watts and running it uses 105 watts. Fridge has a surge of 800 watts and running of 160 watts. Power is out. My fridge when the power is out and the door is not opened will go 2 hours before the temp goes into the 40 degree range. Thus I have 2 hours for the power to come back or I do something. Freezer seems to go up to 24 hours without power (depends upon the outside temp). If both were plugged into the generator at the same time, the surge would be 1785 watts, higher than the generator can do so it would overload and shut off output. Solution: Plug in fridge, generator handles the surge and then settles down to the 160 running watts, both well within its capability. Wait a few minutes and plug in freezer. Generator handles freezer surge and settles down within a second or two to outputting 105 watts plus 160 watts or 265 watts total, well within its capability. Now it's unlikely that later both appliances would surge at the same time and overload the generator. It's never happened, and as a matter of fact, I've also plugged in a 2nd freezer (surge 502 watts, running 103 watts) after the first freezer finished its start up surge.
Add 105 running watts plus 160 running watts plus 103 running watts and get 368 watts. Your generator battery has a 1024 watt capacity. Figure 80% of that is useable capacity (the solar generator has some overhead converting DC into AC output and running a display and communicating with your phone if applicable). 1024 x 80% = 819 available watts. Divide 819 watts by 368 and you get 2.2 hours running time. Ha ha you say, Daezee, my fridge and freezer do not run continuously and besides that I only have a fridge, and right you are. Remember you plugged your fridge into your watt meter for 24-48 hours to got the average watts used per hour. OK, in non air-conditioning weather, my fridge averaged 55 watts per hour over a 48 hour period. In hot weather it averages 65 watts per hour. Assume the same 1024 watt battery capacity with 80% available. 819 divided by 65 = 12.6 hours worth of fridge being kept cold. Now lets add a solar panel putting out 200 watts per hour x 5 hours of good solar time in a day (actually it'll put out before and after the peak 5 hours, but not as much). 200 x 5 = 1000. 1000 + 819 = 1819. 1819/65 = 28 hours. Of course a rainy day can mess that up, but I have a gasoline powered generator as a backup. Not enough sun, charge the solar generator from the gasoline generator for about an hour or so and turn off the gasoline generator and run the solar generator for several more hours. Your gasoline lasts a lot longer and much less noise overall.
My old 600 watt output generator worked fine for my needs. Power goes out, plug in TV and WiFi router, plug in fridge, plug in freezers. Generator sits right next to the UPS. Quick and easy. TV, router, satellite dish are plugged into a UPS giving me 10-15 minutes to plug the UPS into the generator before the satellite has to go through its 20 minute restart procedure, followed by 2 hours to plug in the fridge. Most outages here were under 2 hours, but 3 were longer (10, 11.5 and 36 hours). Gave me plenty of time with no rush to plug my gasoline generator into the cutoff switch and power all the 120 volt AC outlets except my shed (its own circuit). Of course I still can't exceed the 1600 watt output of my little Honda gasoline generator and I can't run our big microwave my wife likes to use (1735 running watts).
My first solar generator worked out so fine, I want more capability with longer run time before my gasoline generator was needed and the new LiFePh battery with a 3500 charge cycle life (charge cycle = full charge to 100% and discharge to unit shuts off) (my old was 800 charge cycle before it's down to 80% original capacity). Ecoflow introduces a new model and I get in on the discount offered during the introduction. It was something like $400 off MSRP, free shipping, no tax, and 2 free 160 watt folding solar panels. Now I have an output of 2400 watts, surge of 4800 watts, capacity of 2048 watts. Ability to take in 5 times as much solar as my older unit. Weighs twice as much. And, out of all places, QVC offers for a few days an extra battery that plugs in giving now a total of 4096 watts at an unbelievable low price (saw it posted on an Ecoflow FaceBook group and jumped on the deal; 2 days later QVC had upped the price by $600). Now we can use the big microwave, the smaller microwave and my wife's coffee maker during outages (but not all at the same time). The old is still used for quick easy to move use, for taking it to the neighbor's shooting range for fans, and I can plug my bigger unit into it for recharging (but only up to 600 watts of charging rate...use the phone app to turn down the bigger unit charging speed so as to not overload the little unit).
More planning: If you intend to use solar panels with your generator you HAVE to make sure the volts (VOC on the panel label or total VOC of all the panels wired in series) of the panels do not exceed the input volts the generator can handle. You can go over the watts and amps, as the generator will not pull more than its capable of handling, but if you go over the volts, it will be fried as volts are pushed in. Extreme example: Imagine somehow plugging a 120 volt item into a 240 volt outlet...instant frying of the item. Now image a lamp with a 100 watt bulb is plugged into an 120 volt 1500 watt household circuit...the light bulb does not burn up as it only pulls the 100 watts it needs. Over volts bad; over watts or amps OK as only as much as needed is pulled. Every solar generator will come with info on the max volts input it can handle. My off-grid system is "overpaneled" meaning it can produce more watts than the system can take in, so on bright days it won't take in all the panels can produce, but on less bright times the excess panels provide more output than a lesser number of panels would (bought the panels used cheaply so I could play with different panel configurations).
